The Grand Valley State volleyball team had three players recognized during the All-GLIAC awards ceremony between semifinal matches of the GLIAC Tournament on Saturday (Nov. 21) in Big Rapids, including one of the major award winners. Rookie Staci Brower earned the GLIAC Freshman of the Year award, while a pair of Laker seniors were also honored as All-GLIAC honorees.
 
In addition to Brower's conference rookie of the year award, she was named to the All-GLIAC First Team. Senior Betsy Ronda garnered All-GLIAC Second Team honors, the third all-conference citation of her career. Fellow senior Taylor Shomin, a first-year Laker, was chosen as an All-GLIAC Honorable Mention selection.
 
Brower is just the fifth GVSU player to be named the league's Freshman of the Year and the first, ironically, since Ronda won the award in 2012. Other GLIAC Freshman of the Year winners at Grand Valley State include Rebeccah Rapin (2007), Carrie Baker (1991), and Colleen Murphy (1987).
 
She is also just the second Laker ever - again, Ronda is the other - to be named to the All-GLIAC First Team as a freshman.
 
The 6'1" middle blocker, Brower entered Saturday's semifinal match as the GVSU leader in kills (304) and total blocks (122), to go along with a team-best 30 solo rejections. She has posted double-digits in kills in 19 of the team's 30 matches this season, including a streak of eight consecutive 10+ kill matches in the middle of the year.
 
Perhaps just as impressive is Brower's blocking ability. She entered the weekend's semifinal match ranked second in the GLIAC in total blocks, solo blocks, and blocks per set (1.10), while her 92 block assists are fifth-most in the league. Brower was also 11th in the conference in points per set (3.5) and 12th in total points (391.0).
 
Since conference play began on Sept. 18, Brower has notched at least one block in 21 of 22 contests, with the lone exception being the Lake Superior State match on Nov. 7, when she only played the final two points of the last set. Brower has recorded five or more blocks in 13 matches this season.
 
If she finishes the year as the team leader in kills and total blocks, she'll become just the ninth Laker in school history to do so and the first since Rapin in 2010. The previous five players to lead GVSU in kills and blocks in a season - Rapin, Danielle Alexander, Meghan Moore, Sabrina Bird, and Kathy Vis - were all named to the AVCA All-America Team during their careers; four of those five players were First Team All-Americans.
 
Ronda, who was a First Team All-GLIAC Honoree in 2012 and a Second Team member in 2014, started her season by joining an exclusive club. Her first kill of the 2015 campaign pushed her into GVSU's 1,000 career kill/1,000 career dig club. She is just the eighth player in school history to reach those figures and only the third to do so since 2002.
 
For her career, Ronda has totaled 1,450 digs, the fifth-most in school history. She has also added 1,201 kills, just seven kills shy of entering the Laker career top-10.
 
Ronda ranks second on the team this year with 365 digs and 25 service aces, fourth with 202 kills and 11 solo blocks, and sixth with 48 total blocks. Her 3.54 digs per set is the 13th-best mark in the GLIAC, while she ranks 16th with 365 total digs.
 
After playing three years of club volleyball at Grand Valley State, Shomin put together a stellar first season with the Lakers. Her 520 digs this season are the eighth-most in a single season in GVSU history, while her 4.52 digs per set are the sixth-highest average by a Laker.
 
She also leads Grand Valley State with 34 service aces and if Shomin ends the season as the team leader in both digs and aces, she'll become just the third Laker since 2000 to accomplish that feat.
 
The other major award winners were Ferris State's Megan Vander Meer (Player of the Year and Attacker of the Year), Hillsdale's Erin Holsinger (Blocker of the Year), Saginaw Valley State's Brooke Tiller (Libero of the Year), and Ferris State's Stephanie Sikorski (Setter of the Year). FSU head coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm was named the GLIAC Coach of the Year.